One of the most difficult leadership decisions in any school is dealing with highly performing but toxic employees. Every school has encountered such individuals at one point or another — teachers who produce excellent examination results but damage relationships, spread negativity, bully colleagues, mistreat learners, disrespect parents, or constantly create tension within the institution.
Many school leaders hesitate to confront them for one reason: academic performance.
The fear is understandable. Administrators worry that removing such teachers may affect mean scores, weaken subject performance, or reduce competitiveness. As a result, toxic behaviour gets ignored, excused, or normalised simply because the individual produces grades.
Yet this is one of the most dangerous mistakes a school can make.
A crucial principle in successful school leadership is this: never tolerate toxic staff members, even if they perform well academically.
Academic excellence should never become a license for destructive behavior.
A toxic staff member can quietly poison an entire institution from within. They damage teamwork, lower morale, create fear, divide departments, and undermine leadership authority. Over time, the emotional cost becomes far greater than the academic benefit they appear to provide.
Unfortunately, many schools discover this too late.
Some teachers consistently produce outstanding results but are impossible to work with. They insult colleagues, gossip excessively, intimidate learners, resist collaboration, and create unhealthy competition among staff. Others openly undermine school policies or manipulate parents against the administration whenever disagreements arise.
Such individuals may appear valuable on paper, but internally, they weaken the school culture significantly.
School culture matters more than many administrators realise.
A healthy institution depends not only on academic performance but also on trust, professionalism, collaboration, and emotional safety. When toxic individuals dominate the environment, good teachers become frustrated and emotionally drained. Some eventually resign, leaving the institution weaker overall.
Ironically, schools sometimes lose excellent, humble, team-oriented teachers while protecting one toxic high performer.
That is poor leadership.
No single employee should become bigger than the institution itself. Once a school begins tolerating destructive behaviour because of results, dangerous precedents emerge. Other staff members start believing that professionalism and respect matter less than performance statistics.
The message becomes clear: as long as you produce grades, you can behave however you want.
That culture eventually becomes toxic across the institution.
Learners are also deeply affected by toxic teachers. Some educators achieve strong results through fear, humiliation, emotional intimidation, or excessive pressure. Externally, the school celebrates high grades. Internally, learners suffer anxiety, low self-esteem, resentment, and emotional exhaustion.
Parents today are becoming increasingly sensitive to such environments. They want schools where children are challenged academically but also treated with dignity and humanity. A teacher who consistently embarrasses, insults, or psychologically harms learners may eventually damage the school’s reputation regardless of academic outcomes.
Emotional safety matters.
Moreover, toxic staff members often create division among parents, too. Some become arrogant because they know their academic value. They bypass procedures, disrespect administrators publicly, or cultivate unhealthy influence over families. Leadership becomes weakened because the institution begins revolving around certain personalities instead of systems.
Strong schools cannot be built on personality dependency.
Good leadership requires courage to prioritise long-term institutional health over short-term academic convenience. Sometimes removing or disciplining a toxic high performer may temporarily affect results, but preserving a healthy culture protects the school’s future.
Healthy school environments produce sustainable excellence.
This does not mean schools should become hostile toward demanding or high-standard teachers. Strong educators often push learners rigorously and maintain high expectations. That alone is not toxicity. The issue is behaviour that consistently damages relationships, morale, dignity, or professionalism.
A high-performing teacher who remains respectful, collaborative, disciplined, and emotionally balanced is an asset. But a brilliant teacher who spreads fear, negativity, manipulation, or hostility eventually becomes a liability.
School leaders must therefore evaluate staff holistically.
Academic output matters greatly, yes, but character, professionalism, teamwork, emotional intelligence, and attitude matter too. Education is a people-centred profession. Teachers influence not only grades but also culture, confidence, and emotional well-being.
Students remember how teachers made them feel long after examination results are forgotten.
Toxicity also spreads quickly if left unchecked. New teachers entering the institution begin adapting to unhealthy behaviours. Gossip becomes normalised. Disrespect increases. Departments become fragmented. Eventually, the entire work environment deteriorates.
Leadership silence during such situations is interpreted as approval.
This is why administrators must address issues early. Clear expectations should exist regarding professionalism, communication, respect, teamwork, and conduct. Feedback mechanisms should function properly. Staff members should know that performance alone does not excuse harmful behaviour.
READ ALSO: Poison in the staffroom: How toxic teacher relationships undermine schools
Importantly, school leaders themselves must model healthy leadership. Toxic cultures sometimes originate from the administration through favouritism, humiliation, inconsistency, or poor communication. Leaders cannot demand professionalism from staff while behaving unprofessionally themselves.
Culture eventually reflects leadership.
The strongest schools are not simply those with the highest grades. They are schools where excellence and humanity coexist. Schools where teachers collaborate. Schools where learners feel safe. Schools where professionalism is consistent. Schools where respect flows across all levels.
Because sustainable success is built through healthy people and healthy relationships — not fear, intimidation, or toxic brilliance.
In the end, protecting school culture is more important than protecting one individual’s academic statistics.
By Ashford Kimani
Ashford teaches English and Literature in Gatundu North Sub-county and serves as Dean of Studies.
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